Tag: Pacific

The Bering Strait is the only marine connection between the Chukchi Sea and Arctic Ocean to the north and the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean to the south. Just 55 miles wide, the Strait separates Alaska to the west and Russia to the east. The Bering Strait is a biological hotspot. Millions of seabirds and hundreds of thousands of marine mammals use the Strait as a migratory corridor, and the Bering and Chukchi Seas are one of the most productive ocean ecosystems in the world. It is also noted that vessel traffic through the Bering Strait is growing. Earlier this year, an American company revealed plans to sail a luxury cruise ship from Seward, Alaska to New York City in 2016, using the fabled Northwest Passage. More recently, a Canadian company announced its intent to ship a cargo of nickel concentrate from northern Canada to China, also via the Northwest Passage. In addition to increasing interest in using the Northwest Passage north of Canada, traffic on the Northern Sea Route north of Russia is growing. As vessel traffic increases, so too does the potential for adverse environmental impacts to the Bering Strait region. These impacts could include more pollution, ship ...

The Bering Strait is the only marine connection between the Chukchi Sea and Arctic Ocean to the north and the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean to the south

Deployment of 60 percent of navy's fleet to the Pacific by 2020 The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said Monday the Navy will be sending its most advanced vessels and aircraft to the Asia-Pacific region as it builds up its presence by assigning most of its fleet there.Adm. Cecil Haney said a policy recently outlined by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to deploy 60 percent of the Navy's ships fleet to the Pacific by 2020 is about capabilities as well as quantity."It's not just numbers - it's also what those platforms, what those units, bring to the table," Haney told The Associated Press in an interview at his headquarters in Pearl Harbor.Haney cited as an example the Littoral Combat Ship which can operate in shallower waters than other vessels. The U.S. plans to begin deploying one of the ships to Singapore next year.The EA-18G plane - which can jam enemy air defenses and fly faster than the speed of sound - is another. Haney said squadrons of these aircraft would be coming through the region.There's also the Navy's most advanced submarine - the Virginia-class. Several of these subs are based at Pearl Harbor."Yes, it's about having numbers in that 60-40 ...

In Agate Beach, Oregon When the tsunami hit the northern coast of Japan last year, the waves ripped four dock floats the size of freight train boxcars from their pilings in the fishing port of Misawa and turned them over to the whims of wind and currents.One floated up on a nearby island. Two have not been seen again. But one made an incredible journey across 5,000 miles of ocean that ended this week on a popular Oregon beach.Along for the ride were hundreds of millions of individual organisms, including a tiny species of crab, a species of algae, and a little starfish all native to Japan that have scientists concerned if they get a chance to spread out on the West Coast."This is a very clear threat," said John Chapman, a research scientist at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore., where the dock washed up early Tuesday. "... It's incredibly difficult to predict what will happen next."A dozen volunteers scraped the dock clean of marine organisms and sterilized it with torches Thursday to prevent the spread of invasive species, said Chris Havel, spokesman for the state Department of Parks and Recreation, which is overseeing the ...

Study of the amount, spread, and impacts of radiation released into the ocean An international research team is reporting the results of a research cruise they organized to study the amount, spread, and impacts of radiation released into the ocean from the tsunami-crippled reactors in Fukushima, Japan. The group of 17 researchers and technicians from eight institutions spent 15 days at sea in June 2011 studying ocean currents, and sampling water and marine organisms up to the edge of the exclusion zone around the reactors.This map shows the sampling stations and cruise track near the Kuroshio Current (shown in yellow and red). Sampling began 400 miles offshore and passed within 20 miles of the nuclear complex. (Credit: Steven Jayne, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)Led by Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist and marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the team found that the concentration of several key radioactive substances, or radionuclides, were elevated but varied widely across the study area, reflecting the complex nature of the marine environment. In addition, although levels of radioactivity in marine life sampled during the cruise were well below levels of concern for humans and the organisms themselves, the researchers leave open the question ...

Located in the central Kyobashi commercial district in Tokyo The 'A' rated 150 million GT North P&I club is about to consolidate its position in the Asia-Pacific region following approval from the Japanese government to open a branch office in Tokyo. The new office is due to start operating in the next few months and will complement the club's existing Asia-Pacific branches in Hong Kong and Singapore.Located in the central Kyobashi commercial district in Tokyo, the Japanese branch will be led by general manager Kunio Fukumoto. He formerly worked with Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group and brings more than 30 years of senior-level marine underwriting experience to the club.Fukumoto will be assisted by joint deputy general managers Masaki Ida and Malcolm Allinson, formerly a senior claims executive in North's UK head office, who together will be responsible for day-to-day claims handling, marketing and loss-prevention activities. General office administration will be undertaken by senior accounting and administration executive Tatsuya Nagai.North chairman Pratap Shirke says, 'We warmly welcome Fukomoto-san and his team and have every confidence they will help to realise the club's ambition to deliver the highest levels of service to the Japanese shipping community. We first started ...

IMO MEPC 1/ Circ.775 IMO issues circular MEPC1/ Circ.775 regarding Environmental Management Plan For The Clarion-Clipperton Zone Of The Central Pacific OceanA communication has been received from the International Seabed Authorityconcerning a decision by its Council at the seventeenth session (July 2011) relating to an environmental management plan for the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Central Pacific Ocean. It is circulated to Member States for their information and action as appropriate.For more information, click hereSource: IMO

Sub-centre, at Antananarivo, Madagascar for SAR coordination purposes A further key link in the plan to provide effective search and rescue (SAR) coverage off the coast of Africa has been established, with the commissioning of a search and rescue sub-centre that will operate in conjunction with the regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Cape Town, South Africa.The sub-centre, at Antananarivo, Madagascar, was commissioned on 11 December 2011 by IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, together with Madagascar's Minister for Transports, Benjamina Ramarcel Ramantsoa and Mr. Jérôme Sambalis Director General of the Agence Portuaire, Maritime et Fluviale (APMF).The inauguration of the new facility, which will operate as a joint maritime and aeronautical centre, marks an important step in a process that began at a conference on Search and Rescue and the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, convened by IMO in Florence, Italy, in October 2000. African Governments represented at the Conference agreed on a regional approach to the provision of SAR services in western, southern and eastern parts of the continent as well as in island States around Africa.To that effect, they adopted a resolution inviting the African countries bordering the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as well as the nearby ...

Destruction of massive underwater mountains Startling new images from the depths of the Pacific Ocean reveal one of Earth's most violent processes: the destruction of massive underwater mountains.The pictures were created by sonar in waters up to 6km (4mi) deep.They expose how tectonic action is dragging giant volcanoes into a chasm in the seabed.The volcanoes are strung across several thousand kilometres of ocean floor and are moving westward on the Pacific tectonic plate at up to 6cm per year.The extraordinary scene was captured along the Tonga Trench during a research expedition last summer.The trench is a highly active fault line running north from New Zealand towards Tonga and Samoa.The first images have been released to BBC News as the findings are presented to the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union.They are the result of a joint project by the universities of Oxford and Durham, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.Into the abyss Where the Pacific plate collides with the Indo-Australian plate, it is forced downwards into the trench, a subduction zone, and the volcanoes are carried with it.The trench, reaching a depth of 10.9km, forms the second deepest stretch of seabed anywhere in the world - easily large ...

The past decade has been the warmest and ocean acidity levels continue to increase New research providing critical information about how climate change is affecting Australia's Pacific island neighbours and East Timor has been released by the Australian Government's Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP).The landmark, peer-reviewed publication, Climate Change in the Pacific: Scientific Assessment and New Research, presents the most comprehensive scientific analysis to date of climate change in the Pacific region.Co-editor of the report, the Bureau of Meteorology's Dr Scott Power, said the findings would be presented at an event during the 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference being held from next week in Durban, South Africa."The research provides clear evidence of how the climate has changed across this region. For example, the past decade has been the warmest on record and ocean acidity levels are continuing to increase in response to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations," Dr Power said.According to co-editor, CSIRO's Kevin Hennessy, the research indicates future decreases in droughts in most parts of the Pacific and decreases in the frequency of tropical cyclones by the end of the century."We also expect widespread increases in extreme rainfall events, large increases in the incidence of hot days ...